The newspaper about the West
|
From Out West #32 By Chuck Woodbury SOUTH BEACH, Ore. -- Loren Finch was sleeping in his contour lounge when I knocked on this front door to ask him about his Zig Zag Zoo. I could see him through the window, dressed in a fire-engine red jump suit. He arose and slowly walked to the door, groggy. I wondered if he was sick, but he wasn't. He's 91, which is an age where you generally move significantly slower than, say, a four year old. His house is on a half acre in the shadow of the big bridge into Newport. His Zig Zag Zoo is a collection of STUFF he's nailed and otherwise affixed all over his yard. It's a hodgepodge of miscellany -- a monument to the idea that if you want to build something, just do it -- no matter what it is, as long as you enjoy doing it. Finch invited me in to talk, whereupon he promptly returned to his lounge chair. "Ever seen one of these things?" he asked, slapping his hand on the chair. I said, yes, I had seen one, but I couldn't recall where. And then he told me about how he and another fellow invented it. "Art Linkletter advertises it now on TV," he said, and then I remembered that, yes, that is where I had seen it. He and his partner sold the rights to the chair to another guy, who then "died in Philadelphia." It ended up in someone else's hands, and eventually became a big success. But I wasn't very interested in the chair, only Finch's oddly decorated yard. "Why did you do it?" I asked. But he didn't answer. I asked him again. Still, he didn't answer. Maybe, I thought, he didn't have a reason. Maybe he just did it. From what I eventually pieced together from our brief chat, Finch created it because he was stuck close to home for a long time. Shortly after moving to Newport in 1968, his wife Helen became very ill. For the next 20 years, until her death six years ago, she was an invalid. Finch attended to her every need. Between taking care of Helen, he would build his zoo. And so it grew, ever so slowly. He'd drive his Jeep to the beach to gather interesting driftwood. "But you can't drive on the beach anymore," he said. Through the years, he'd buy and otherwise acquire other things to add to the zoo -- propellers, floats, marine paraphernalia -- things like that. He's never stopped adding to his zoo, although he's darn near stopped now because his energy isn't want it once was (although he still plays nine holes of golf a day) and because he's darn near out of yard space. "I just try to keep it up now," he explained. "I spent $450 this year just to have it de-weeded. It's too much for me." He said a few dozen folks, mostly tourists, stop every week. It's on Abalone Street, the road to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for motorists approaching from the north. For others, it's a bit off the beaten path. In either case, it's worth finding. Read more stories like this in Out West, "the newspaper that roams. Only $12.95 a year. Order online or get more information. ©2000 by Out West Newspaper.
©2000 by Out West Newspaper Do you have any comments or update information about this story? E-mail Chuck Woodbury
Out West, 9792 Edmonds Way, #265-A, Edmonds, WA 98020. 800-274-9378. Fax: (425) 776-3398. One year subscription in the USA $12.95 ($16 outside the states). E-mail: outwest@seanet.com. On the Web: http://www.outwestnewspaper.com |
